TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT CAUSED UNUSUAL DETERIORATION IN FURNACE TUBES

Abstract

A refinery furnace used for heating crude oil showed abundant pelicules with unusual thicknesses in some pipes located in the convection zone, next to the wall of the furnace. The purpose of this research consisted in identifying the type of corrosion and determine the causes that originated the formation of the unusual pelicules. With the objective of elucidating which technological factors propitiated this deterioration, a visual inspection of the furnace was carried out to evaluate its structural state. From the values reported as thermocouples, temperature profiles of operation in the convection zone were obtained. The pelicules obtained were characterized using the X-ray diffraction technique and a metallographic microscope of reflected light. The results showed several deposits among the convection tubes; which cannot be eliminated because there isn't an adequate system of removal. This problem is accentuated by the substitution of old refractory bricks by modern monolithic panels. Such situation favored the formation of canalizations or preferential zones that propitiated the increase of the velocity of gases to high temperature and a rise of the concentration of O2 on low alloy steel pipes. These factors caused an anomalous behavior of the temperatures of operation and the formation of pelicules of mill scale type, of macrocrystalline structures, constituted for few adherent iron oxides and unusual thicknesses. These results show a severe oxidation in high temperatures.